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Monday, June 4, 2012

Personal Struggles, Need to Vent!

I just posted on my other blog about struggling when it comes to writing, or what do you struggle with when it comes to writing, editing, and revising and one of the comments was not having enough time and of course that comment triggered this blog post. Here's that blog posthttp://karensdifferentcorners.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/struggling/ And now for this one. A personal side of struggling!

Tomorrow it will be 13 years since my mom passed away. My parents divorced when I was about 5 and I grew up with my mom. During the last two years of her life my mom relied on me to make the right decisions when it came to her healthcare. Now this is where the struggling comes in. I have lived for years wondering did I make the right decisions, which brings on guilt, sorrow and second guessing, which isn't good, but on the positive note, I have learned how to deal with those feelings.

Now, my dad is 88 years old and he is actually in excellent health, except for hearing problems and my step mom has suffered numerous strokes over the past few years which have affected her speech and it is hard to understand her because of slurring and garbling her words, not to mention she speaks in a whisper. Okay that's the scene but add to it the fact that my dad wants to remain completely independent, doing everything himself, until he runs into a problem. Then he calls me to sort out the mess. And that's fine, but certain companies won't talk to me on the phone. I know there are privacy laws and that some things can't be discussed, but I am not asking for his personal information, I'm just trying to straighten out the problem.

What I have found is;

If you are not on the account, they can't talk to you.

Some representatives listen and understand and will talk to you. A big thank you to them.

With all the different accounts that people have, no matter what age you are, should you put someone else on your account to represent you. You might say, No, why should I have someone else listed on my phone bill or my gas bill or...? I have never thought about it, till now.I called one company about a bill my dad had and the lady was wonderful, she explained everything to me, she understood what I was going through and was extremely helpful. Then when I asked her about a different problem with my dads account, she said that tech would have to help me with that and she'd gladly transfer me. And when I got to tech, I ran into a brick wall, they wouldn't talk to me. Sorry, you are not listed on that account. It was the same company just different people. They can go over everything about the bill with me, payments, charges, etc. and yet tech support can't talk to me? Go figure.

My dad likes to get on the internet and has various sites and accounts, but when he's in a hurry he tends to push the wrong buttons. Case in point, one account he got locked out of because he kept putting in the wrong password, (something that happens quite often) so he had to call and then he couldn't hear or understand what they guy was telling him, so dad told me to call. I told my dad they won't talk to me, but he insisted, so I called and no they wouldn't talk to me but suggested a 3 way call, fine, okay. They get my dad on the phone and ask him if they can talk to me and dad get's frustrated, "I can't hear you! Who is this? What do you want?" and then he hangs up. So the guy said he would send out a paper to put me on the account, my dad signed it and my step mom refused to sign it. Long story short, I ended up being put on the account.

I spent an hour on hold with two different accounts this morning before actually talking to someone. The first company, no problemThe second company, even after explaining everything to her, telling her who I was, that my step mom wasn't here with me, my dad wasn't here with me, etc. I get, I can't talk to you. is your step mom there? no, well then is your dad there? Oh come on weren't you listening? I don't want any personal info on the account I just want to know if you received their check? A simple yes or no would work.

So besides writing, what do you struggle with?

Sorry to bend your ear, but I feel better now. And a big thank you for listening.Hugs for a wonderful Monday!

2 comments:

I went through some similar issues when my dad had a stroke and my mom was concentrating on helping him. I was trying to help her out with finances and insurance issues. I was surprised that the companies have these polices, even after explaining the situation to them. You are right, some were very nice and helpful as well. But, most the time, it was really frustrating, but all straightened out now.